From 25 November to 10 December, a global UN campaign is under way to eradicate all forms of violence directed against women.
This year, on 25 November, at the start of the UN’s 16 Days of activism against violence against women, women’s rights defenders and experts in many parts of the world, urging society and policymakers to speak directly and openly, call out: Hear me too!, using the hashtag #HearMeToo [on social networks].
In Latvia, the issue of violence against older women, who most often suffer at the hands of their adult children, other family members and acquaintances, is still passed over in silence. Older women usually do not talk about the violence they have experienced.
Statistics show that in 80% of cases worldwide, women do not report the violence they have experienced to anyone.
“In Latvia, funding is needed for a functional crisis intervention service.
The funding currently available for the crisis intervention service does not foster the ability to provide a quality and complete service to persons who have suffered violence,” believes Iluta Lāce, head of the MARTA Center.
In order to learn about the needs of older women, the MARTA Center organized interviews with women from Riga and the regions who had experienced violence or had been witnesses to violence. Usually older women have experienced violence from a partner or a son.
The women do not deny the professionalism of the specialists, yet they do not hide the fact that they themselves seek help from friends and relatives, because they do not believe that they could receive support from the social service. There is also no trust in the work of the police: “The police lack nothing, they simply do not fulfill this duty,” says one of the women surveyed.
Explaining the reasons why women do not turn for help, the attitude of relatives and society is usually mentioned, justifying the abuser – “but he’s such a good person” or “but you have such a respectable husband.” The women admit that they have been completely alone in the struggle to end the abusive relationship. Moreover, a woman’s material security and financial independence is always a significant factor.
Discussions by MARTA Center specialists with Latvian medical professionals, who in their practices deal every day with older women who experience violence in their daily lives, reveal that the number of women in Latvia who do not report violence may be even greater. In Latvia there is a marked tendency for older women in particular, in crisis situations, not to call the police but to call emergency medical services. An emergency physician from Riga, who has worked in the service for 30 years, admits that every day she has to deal with women who have suffered violence, and almost always the women ask that the police not be informed. Women both in rural areas and in cities are afraid to disclose violence, conceal what has happened and are reluctant to talk about it with their family doctor or caregiver. The women ask to be given medical assistance, but, if the doctor reports to the police, they threaten to commit suicide or to not turn for medical assistance again.
Observations by home-care specialists indicate that older women most often suffer from emotional, economic and sexual violence, when sons and, increasingly often, grandsons take away the old women’s pensions; in about half of these cases physical violence has also been observed. These are cases that medical workers notice, but the women themselves do not complain, because they accept what has happened as “their fate,” not understanding that it is violence and not being aware of their rights.
“Women are taught not to turn against their family members. There are cases when neighbors, or some other close people, report it. In practice one has to deal with situations where the children and grandchildren of older women lack social and communication skills, and as a result relationships in the family are destructive and the women protect the family’s honor,” says one of the family doctors.
#WHOSEFVA #stopviolence #StopElderAbuse
Source: MARTA Center
Photo: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights